Biomaterials and Nanotechnology for Tissue Engineering

Thomas J. Webster

Associate ProfessorBrown University

Thomas J. Webster is an associate professor for the Divisions of Engineering and Orthopedic Surgery at Brown. His degrees are in chemical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh (B.S., 1995) and in biomedical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (M.S., 1997; Ph.D., 2000). Prof. Webster’s research designs, synthesizes, and studies nanophase materials for various implant applications. Nanophase materials are defined as materials with constituent dimensions less than 100 nm in at least one direction. Materials investigated to date include nanophase ceramics, metals, polymers, carbon fibers, and composites. Organ systems evaluated to date include orthopedic, cartilage, vascular, bladder, and the central and peripheral nervous systems. His lab group has generated 4 books, 33 book chapters, 85 invited presentations (including tutorials), 215 literature articles and/or conference proceedings, 245 conference presentations, and 15 provisional or full patents. His technology has resulted in one start-up company. He is the founding editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Nanomedicine and is on the editorial board 10 other journals. He has organized over 25 symposia at academic conferences. Dr. Webster was the 2002 recipient of the Biomedical Engineering Society Rita Schaffer Young Investigator Award, the 2004 recipient of the Outstanding Young Investigator Award for the Schools of Engineering at Purdue University, the 2004 Finalist for the Young Investigator Award of the American Society for Nanomedicine, and the 2005 recipient of the Wallace Coulter Foundation Early Career Award.